Antim Panghal, Aman Sehrawat Opt Out Of Wrestling Worlds; Sujeet Kalkal To Lead India's Challenge

Asian Games gold medallist Aman Sehrawat and silver medallist Antim Panghal have opted out of the World Wrestling Championships, starting Saturday, with champion wrestler Sujeet Kalkal set to spearhead the country's challenge in Astana, Kazakhstan. Antim, who won silver in the women's 53kg category at the Asian Games in Japan, sought to compete in the 55kg category at the final trial bout instead of defending her place in the 53kg division but eventually opted out. Nishu will be India's entry in that weight category.

Aman, who won gold in the men's 57kg category at the Asian Games, also skipped the selection trials, though the reason for his decision was unclear. Now, Rahul will compete in the 57kg.

Sujeet, on the other hand, will compete in the men's 65kg freestyle category after his impressive gold medal-winning performance at the Asian Games, where he defeated reigning Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan in the semifinals before rallying to beat Tajikistan's Abdulmazhid Kudiev in the final.

The WFI had announced that wrestlers competing at the Asian Games and the winners of the earlier World Championship trials will clash for one final time to seal their places in the World Championships.

Meanwhile, the women's 50kg selection bout between Parveen and Neelam had triggered a complaint, with Parveen approaching both the WFI and the Sports Ministry alleging cheating during the contest.

A WFI source said the matter was also referred to United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport's global governing body, which ruled in favour of Neelam.

"Neelam was leading 8-0 at the time. The referee missed awarding two points, and it was at that stage that Neelam had won the bout. Parveen felt she was not given a fair deal but the WFI technical committee and the UWW also ruled in favour of Neelam," the source said.

The Championships will begin with competition in four Greco-Roman weight categories -- 55kg, 60kg , 77kg, 82kg -- on Saturday.

Indian squads:

Men's Freestyle: Rahul (57kg), Nikhil (61kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg), Sourabh Yadav (79kg), Pushpender Dalal (86kg), Sachin (92kg), Vicky (97kg), and Jaspooran Singh (125kg).

Women's Freestyle: Neelam (50kg), Nishu (53kg), Ahilya S Shinde (55kg), Neha Sharma (57kg), Manisha Bhanwala (59kg), Neha (62kg), Rajnita (65kg), Srishti (68kg), Tanu Sharma (72kg), and Kajal (76kg).

Greco-Roman: Lalit (55kg), Harsh (60kg), Sahil (63kg), Sachin Sahrawat (67kg), Karanjit Singh (72kg), Lovepreet Singh (77kg), Prince (82kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh Siwach (97kg), and Joginder Rathee (130kg).

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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